October 2015 Meeting Report

Eleven members gathered at Barnes and Noble RIT on October 5, with another member listening via Periscope on Twitter, to hear Dr. Deborah Gears of RIT present “Collaboration Technology in the Workplace: What Motivates Engagement?”

This presentation discusses psychological and contextual factors that energized or weakened collaborative behavior in an open wiki (used by a health insurance provider). Wiki engagement patterns along with definitions of extrinsic, intrinsic, altruistic, and egoist motivation were discussed. Deb described how this study led to gamification (applying game mechanics in non-game contexts) and problem solving in organizations.